New Rules of Lifting for Women

Is it worth it to buy the book (I am not interested in spending a lot of time reading about WHY I should lift heavy, I already know why), or am I better off just finding articles & videos of heavy lifting workouts for women?

Thank you!

The why is good but the real reason to get the book is a concrete plan of exercises to follow,. It is worth it if you follow through on the exercises . Paperback was only like $12 and i have been following it for months that is a good return on investment for me

If you want to follow the NROLFW program, buy the book.

But if you are already sold on heavy lifting, and know how to lift, you could do a program that is free - it doesn't need to be 'for women'.

Starting Strength, for instance - the basic workout is available online:

Workout A:

Squat 3x5
Bench 3x5
Deadlift 1x5

Workout B:

Squat 3x5
Shoulder press 3x5
Clean 5x3

I have all the NROL books and the one for women I've done 3 times over the years.  I think having the book with the exercises and programs developed and tested is very good. 

I also had great success with weight loss and inches loss with Female Body Breakthrough, especially when I followed her eating plan vs NROL4W plan.  FBB is written by Cosgrove's wife and the lifting program developed by the NROL guy. 

I have also had fun doing NROL4Abs lots of challenging and different exercises in there.  Followed that program as well with the eating plan in FBB and had great success again.

I am now waiting for my NROL For Life set to be released this week  It is written for us older folks

Depends on what your goals are.  Are you still looking to lose weight?  Are you familiar with weight lifting? 

I like NROL programs because the exercises vary every few weeks so I don't get bored.  When I did just a straight 5x5 program after a few weeks it got so boring doing the same exercises I had to stop and go back to the NROL type things.

If you want to lose fat and lift weights I highly recommend NROL4W and also Female Body Breakthrough  especially for beginners

I recently got the book thinking that I would read it first and then go and hit the weights in the gym.... Well, I found it terribly confusing as to how to create the actual work outs for myself, so the book ended up on the shelf, and I am continuing running, swimming, spinning and cycling. 

I tried to google instructions to the NROLFW or ready work outs for that matter. found a few sites where the instructions/workouts were posted once but by the time I got there they have well been deleted due to copyright issues.

Still, seemingly there are a good few people on this forum who were able to make heads and tails of it and put it to good use. Unfortunately, I am not one of them.

Original Post by vft:

Well, I found it terribly confusing as to how to create the actual work outs for myself,

You don't have to shouldn't create your own workouts. It provides about 6 months worth of workout programs. If you have it handy (and maybe on another thread, to not hijack alabama's thread) I'm sure those of us who have done it can help you understand the programs as they are laid out in the book.

Original Post by vft:

I recently got the book thinking that I would read it first and then go and hit the weights in the gym.... Well, I found it terribly confusing as to how to create the actual work outs for myself, so the book ended up on the shelf, and I am continuing running, swimming, spinning and cycling. 

I tried to google instructions to the NROLFW or ready work outs for that matter. found a few sites where the instructions/workouts were posted once but by the time I got there they have well been deleted due to copyright issues.

Still, seemingly there are a good few people on this forum who were able to make heads and tails of it and put it to good use. Unfortunately, I am not one of them.

As A-girl said, we would be glad to help.  Not a plug, but there is another site which has the workouts and even pre-made logs available, you just have to prove you own the book by being able to answer a "second word, page 48" kind of question.  

Lots of posts on there regarding all of the New Rules books. 

Original Post by amethystgirl:

Original Post by vft:

Well, I found it terribly confusing as to how to create the actual work outs for myself,

You don't have to shouldn't create your own workouts. It provides about 6 months worth of workout programs. If you have it handy (and maybe on another thread, to not hijack alabama's thread) I'm sure those of us who have done it can help you understand the programs as they are laid out in the book.

There are also logs available which spell out each workout / phase in an easy to follow format- if you need a copy of the logs http://maggiewang.com/2008/05/20/new-rules-of -lifting-for-women-diet-calculator-and-workou t-logs

these are a lifesave- the logs have page numbers to the exercises listed and spells out in easy to follow format when and what to do for how many reps and everything. 

Also check the forum http://caloriecount.about.com/new-rules-lifti ng-women-g489 ; for help.  You do need the book to get the password to open the log sheets.  Sure most of the older things are no longer active since people have moved on but still questions you may have may be already answered.  Plus there are some new folks starting out and getting the group going again.

alabama, sorry to sort of hijacking your thread but I am sure you find the above responses useful, too.

amethystgirl, thanks for the offer. I don't have the book handy right now (it's at home and I am in the office) so I can't remember wether it was Phase 1/Stage 1 or something of sorts where the workouts weren't exactly spelled out. You had to pull them in from other parts of the book. And as it turned out when I started googling, this was the main difficulty people were encountering when they started reading the book.

karozel, dbackerfan, thanks, I'll check the links to see if they can clarify it for me. Actually, the site I mentioned in my repsonse was the one where you had to enter a word from the book which I did to find out that the content was pretty much deleted, but I can't say if it was the same or a different site since it has been some time.

amethystgirl,karozel, dbackerfan, thanks for your willingness to help, I will revisit the NROLFW in July as I have already worked out a plan for myself until 14th July (am training for a couple of things). Until then I'll follow the new threads on NROLFW if I see them.

You can IM me your email and I'll be happy to send you a copy of the logs as well. 

I am anxiously awaiting NROL for Life to be released this week, and one website has links to download the logs for all the NROL books as well. 

I have found it great to have a program to follow since I am a relative "newbie" to lifting weights!  It was a bit confusing at first but once I sat down and wrote out the workouts it made sense and I have had no problems following it.  I have to say I am very happy with my results so far, especially the inches I have lost off my abd :)

Looks like I'll be getting it. Thank you everyone!